Vietnam and democracy

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

I know where to find revisionist crap, and I stay away. Then The Tribune brings it to local breakfast tables in Cal Thomas' rewrite of Vietnam ("Vietnam, 50 years later," Opinion, Dec. 27):

"Those Americans who died â¦ left behind the seeds of democracy, capitalism and a desire for prosperity and freedom. Whatever one's view of that war, it can be said they did not die in vain."

Except, of course, the right wing over there was fighting for some version of capitalism, prosperity and freedom before our first soldier planted the seeds by shedding blood on that soil. After all, these desires are common attributes of human nature.

So, we go, we fight, we kill, we die, and the net result of that undertaking was to push back reforms in communist Vietnam. We did nothing but needlessly shed massive amounts of blood and postpone the inevitable evolution of that part of the world.

Now, some weak-minded neoconservative visits and proclaims that none of that really ever happened.

Darrell Prows

Murray

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